The most popular new restaurant in Los Angeles is Bestia, located inside a former industrial warehouse on the southern edge of the city’s burgeoning Arts District. Since the original space—a wide open volume with red brick walls and a labyrinthine network of ducts and conduits—is so interesting, it looks like the architects didn’t have to do much. But the job was quite intensive, involving a huge amount of custom work and an eclectic palette of materials.

Much of the inspiration for the design, said Studio Unltd designer Greg Bleier, came from old meatpacking plants and slaughterhouses. This explains the corrugated metal canopies that project from the space, which were added to the facade along with a large new roll up garage door and new concrete supports. An assortment of salvaged wood tables, from communal to more intimate, were custom fabricated, while the restaurant’s bars are fashioned from copper, white marble, and hand painted tile.

Perhaps the most striking element to impress diners is the lighting scheme. LED’s line the perimeter of the cavernous space, custom steel tulip-shaped pendants and bulbous glass amber jugs hover over tables and bars, while chandeliers made from chains and attached with cables and clips, hang from what appear to be meat hooks.